TongueTied
by Proud Soprano Choir Girl
Summary: It all started with a simple phone call. One phone call that changed Simon's summer for the better, Jack's summer for the worse, and set up everyone's future to be something a bit more... Chaotic. Ralph/Simon Roger/OC
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys! I thought of this plot when I was sitting in math class, so that describes how bored I was :)

Anyways, I wrote this listening to the song "Tongue-Tied" by Grouplove. I hope you guys like it!

Disclaimer: As much as I would like to, I didn't come up with Lord of the Flies. If I did, I'd be an old, dead man with a beard. (And I'm not that, am I?) Didn't think so.

Enjoy!

Tongue-Tied

"Take me to your best friend's house, I loved you then and I loved you now!"

-Grouplove

It all started with a simple phone call. If Simon would think about that day, nothing special would have happened if he hadn't picked up that damn phone.

But he did. So things good, bad, and in-between started happening to him, and it was all because of that stupid phone call.

However, as things are, the day had gone as follows:

Simon was sitting on his couch, doing everything that he would've done anyways: listening to music and going online, trying to procrastinate doing his Summer Reading as long as possible. Suddenly, his phone started ringing, an obnoxious, blaring song that annoyed the shit of him. The thing is, Simon never heard his phone, so the ringtone was doing its work just fine.

The little brunette jumped up from the couch and skipped over to his singing phone. He looked at the caller I.D. and just about died right there on the spot.

Ralph Matheson was calling him.

Ralph.

Simon had kind of been in love with poor Ralph since he was 11 years old. The blond, with his freckles and bright blue eyes, was simply too adorable for Simon to resist. He kind of had to love him; it felt like it was in his blood.

Which, going back to the phone call, had all but frozen in the little choir boy's veins. He shakily pressed the 'Accept' button on his phone and brought the thing up to his ear.

"Hey, Simon?" Ralph's angelic voice ran out of the phone.

"Yup?" Simon coughed, mentally slapping himself for not being able to think of a different word. Honors English and the only word he could come up with was 'yup'? He felt utterly pathetic.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come to my house today," Ralph sounded determined and hopeful.

Well, if Simon hadn't died of complete and utter happiness before, he did then. But, terribly, the shy brunette couldn't find the words he wanted to accept Ralph's offer. He stood there, holding the phone for so long that Ralph asked if he was still there from the other end of the line. Simon nodded, and then, remembering that he was on the phone with him, said,

"Yes! Of course! When should I come over?"

"How, about, umm?" Ralph trailed off, probably looking at a clock. "In a half an hour?"

"Sure!"

Simon hung up. He kind of stood there for a minute, staring at his phone and blinking in wonder, questioning whether or not the phone call had just happened.

Ralph had always been a close friend of Simon's in school, but they had only hung out once or twice before, and that was because of mutual friends. Simon never thought that the blond would actually want to hang out with just him.

Hang out.

With him.

A sudden realization came to Simon that maybe he should change into socially acceptable clothes, instead of his PJ's.

Simon ran upstairs to his room, putting on some jeans and converse, a button down shirt, and rolled up the sleeves. He combed his hair and walked outside.

Ralph lived only a few blocks down from him, Simon remembered, so it wouldn't take too long for him to reach it.

On the way there, Simon began daydreaming, something that was quite common in the choir boy's head. He imagined what would happen if Ralph would ask him out. Would he tell people? He would probably tell Sam and Eric, who knew of his crush on the blonde. Jack? Maybe. He would tease him though. Not that he wouldn't care, he'd probably be too happy to.

Soon, he was at the Matheson's house. Simon knocked on the front door making sure that he looked okay just in case Ralph answered.

Much to his slight disappointment, it was not Ralph who answered the door but his mom, a skinny woman whom Ralph had gotten most of his looks from. They looked almost identical.

"Hi! Simon, right?"

"Yeah, Mrs. Matheson. How have you been?"

"Great, thank you for asking. Ralph's up in his room, listening to music."

"Cool! And thank you for having me over." Simon smiled widely, revealing his perfectly straight teeth. He had gotten his braces off only a few weeks before and was quite proud of his teeth. Simon took off with shoes and walked upstairs to Ralph's room. He tentatively knocked on the door, opening it a bit in the process.

"Hey Simon! Come in!" Ralph had pulled out one of his earphones so he could hear Simon's response. Ralph looked like he always did: Proud and excited, with a huge grin spread across his face His eyes always lit up when he did that. His hair covered his forehead, and went in his eyes a bit.

"What's up?" Simon asked, jumping on a beanbag chair across from Ralph's bed. Ralph sat up.

"Nothing much... I've been bored, actually. Jack won't answer his phone, and when I asked Roger about it, he said something about how it's none of my business," Ralph raised an eyebrow when he said this, as if he had no idea what this meant.

He probably didn't, Simon thought. Jack had had a crush on Ralph for a while, almost as long as he had liked Ralph. Simon had only just told him who he had been pining after only because Jack was so persistent. Jack had flipped a shit. It's not like he had anything to worry about, Jack was much more suitable than he was, Simon had always thought. Simon sat there awkwardly, and responded simply with,

"Oh, that's a bit weird, huh?"

Ralph nodded.

"So, do you want something to eat?"

"Okay!" Simon said, even though he wasn't that hungry.

"I'll be right back…" Ralph walked out of his room. When Simon heard his footsteps on the stairs, he quickly texted Sam about the situation he was in. In around thirty seconds, he was had already gotten a response:

You better not just sit there and act stupid!

Simon rolled his eyes. It was something that only Sam would text him. But, the twin had a point. Simon had a tendency to sit there and act quiet around people he liked, _especially_ Ralph.

Simon shot a quick text back to Sam, asserting the fact that he could do more than just sit there. Soon after, Ralph walked in with little mini pizzas, probably micro-waved, and Coke. He tossed Simon a can and invited him to sit on his bed with him. Simon walked over and grabbed a pizza.

"You know, if I called Jack, he'd probably answer, and he could come over, too." Simon looked at Ralph and raised his eyebrow. Ralph smiled.

"That'd be great! Stuff is always interesting when Jack's around."

Simon felt a pang of jealousy. Ralph probably didn't say that about him when he wasn't around. Simon tried to push the thought out of his head as he got up and grabbed his phone from the beanbag chair. He dialed Jack's number and waited while the dial tone rang. Soon, Jack answered.

"What?" The ginger snapped. Simon jumped a bit. He realized that he had woken Jack up. The lead choir boy tended to sleep quite late, and if he was woken up, he got incredibly pissed. Ralph looked at Simon weird, and Simon mouthed the words 'I woke him up'. Ralph's face turned from one of confusion to one of horror. Simon nodded.

"I was wondering if you wanted to hang with me and Ralph, we're at Ralph's place!"

There was a pause, and then:

"You're_ where_!" Jack screeched. Simon held the phone away from his ear.

"At Ralph's," Simon tried to answer with a much patience as he could.

"_Alone_!" Jack yelled again, furious. Simon realized that calling Jack probably hadn't been the smartest move.

"Uh-huh…" Simon's voice trailed off.

"I'm coming," Jack's voice sounded determined. The _beep _that signified Jack hanging up followed immediately after.

"Is he coming?" Ralph looked up at Simon from his bed. Simon walked over to him and sat down, looking at the floor.

"Yeah, but he's pretty pissed, so watch out."

Ralph nodded, thinking that Jack was mad because he was woken up early.

Simon looked at Ralph at laughed. Ralph had no idea of how much Jack liked him. He was completely oblivious.

Suddenly, a question filled Simon's brain. This, Simon knew, was never a good thing. Whenever he had the urge to ask someone a question, it had one of two outcomes:

He froze halfway through, said, "Oh, never mind," and dropped the subject.

The question ended up being totally uncalled for.

But Simon had to know. It was overwhelming.

"Umm, Ralph?" Simon asked.

"Yeah?" Ralph looked at Simon with his blue eyes. Simon forgot what he was going to ask him for a second, but an incoming text from Sam reminded him.

"Who do you like?" Simon asked, and blinked when Ralph crossed his arms and looked away from him.

"What'd I say?" Simon wasn't too surprised; it turns out that this time, the question ended up with option 'B'.

"I can't believe you'd ask me that?"

"What?" Simon asked again, confused.

"Isn't it obvious?" As soon as Ralph spoke those words, only one word passed through Simon's brain:

FUCK.

He likes Jack.

"Oh yeah, of course it is, I mean, Jack is so much taller, and smarter, and he can sing C sharp, which is a pretty high note, but I don't know, he can be quite irritable sometimes, Ralph, are you sure you-"

The brunette's rant was cut off by a kiss.

Ralph.

Was.

Kissing.

Him.

Simon was pretty sure he was about to faint, but then he remembered to kiss him back. Simon couldn't believe what Ralph did, _he was kissing him! _It seemed as if the world couldn't get any better.

But, as it turned out, it could get a hell of a lot worse.

The quick, shrill sound of someone holding back a scream came from the doorway. Ralph and Simon froze, broke the kiss, and Simon untangled his hands from Ralph's hair (even though he didn't remember putting them there). They both turned around to face a horrified Jack, his eyes widened in pure and utter horror.

"Simon?" He whispered.

_Oh no, oh no,_ Simon thought.

And then, for the small brunette, the world went quite dark.

So, did you guys like it? Favorite, Review, Suggestions? No flames please! :)


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys! Thanks to the people you reviewed! You guys are the best. :)

Disclaimer: If I wrote Lord of the Flies I'd be rich. Considering that I am broke, I don't think I wrote it.

Enjoy! :)

Simon woke up to Ralph fanning him with a makeshift paper fan. It took him a minute to remember what had just happened, and when he remembered, it felt like someone had put a huge weight on his shoulders. Jack was going to kill him… Simon realized how badly Jack must feel right now.

"Ralph?" Simon asked the blond, wide-eyed.

"Yeah?" Ralph stepped back, allowing Simon to sit up.

"Where'd Jack go?" Simon looked concerned.

Ralph swallowed. After Simon had fainted, Jack had taken one look at Ralph in disgust and had run out of the room. Ralph guessed he was downstairs waiting for Simon, so that was what he responded to the brunette's question.

Ralph felt horrible; he really didn't know that Jack would've reacted that way… He still wasn't quite sure what had happened and why. He didn't feel like asking Jack now, though, because he figured it would make him even angrier.

"I'll be right back," Simon swallowed and walked out of Ralph's bedroom as calmly as possible at the moment. When he didn't see Jack downstairs like Ralph had told him. Simon checked the front stairs. And there, as the thought, he found Jack.

"Hey," Simon mumbled. Jack jumped slightly and put his head in his hands.

"I don't want to talk to you, Simon. Leave me alone." Jack ran his fingers through his red hair. Simon ignored what his friend said and sat down next to him. He figures that it would be for the best.

"Jack, really, I didn't mean to-"

Jack looked up and locked eyes with Simon. He had marks on his forehead from where the heels of his hands had been resting.

"You didn't mean to what, Simon? You knew I like him, too, so you can't play innocent on this one."

Simon raised his eyebrows.

"Jack, what the hell do you mean, 'on this one'? I've never played innocent before!" Simon's tone was cold. He couldn't believe what Jack had just said.

"Simon, it's all you do. You just think that because you're so delicate and quiet you can get any with anything." Jack knew it was true, too. When they were little, Simon would be able to blink his blue eyes and be able to get any adult to believe him. Sometimes it was useful, but other times it was wrong.

Like now.

"Jack, I didn't say anything that is even remotely close to 'playing innocent'! And I'm sorry that I kissed Ralph, okay? It's just-"

Jack looked at Simon with a look of disbelief.

"What, Simon? It's just what?"

"I thought that he loved you, all these years, if I could've guessed. Up until the time when he kissed me, I was purely convinced that he liked you. I'm sorry. I was caught off guard." Simon looked up at the older boy. "I didn't know you would've seen. I'm sorry."

Jack placed his head in his hands once more and sighed loudly. Simon smiled. He could tell that Jack was starting to forgive him, which was good. Simon really couldn't stand fighting with people; it made him really confused and sad. It was mostly because of that feeling of wanting to reverse everything that he had said afterwards. It was the worst feeling in the world, Simon had always thought, that feeling horrible regret.

"Simon," Jack groaned, "I really don't know what to do about you, but I'm going to forgive you." Jack sighed once more.

Simon's eyes lit up, and he hugged the lead choir boy.

"Jack, you won't regret it, I promise. Oh thank you, thank you! I am really sorry, Jack, I hope you realize it!" Simon jumped up, gabbing Jack's hand.

"Come back inside Jack!" Simon exclaimed, tugging at the ginger's limp hand.

"I'll come inside in a minute, Simon." Jack said.

"Okay, if you say so," Simon responded, tilting his head to one side a bit, and walked inside. He made sure to leave the door propped open for Jack.

Jack made sure Simon wasn't within earshot when he let out a loud groan. He realized what had just happened, and he wasn't happy about it. Simon had just conned him into forgiving him.

As Jack sat on the Matheson's front steps, he understood how much he was going to regret forgiving Simon.

It had been a week since Jack had seen Simon and Ralph kissing. Ralph, Jack, Simon, and the twins were all hanging out at Roger's house. Simon and Ralph were, naturally, sitting next to each other. Roger sat by Jack, and the twins sat next to each other. They were all watching _Paranormal Activity _On Demand, suggested by Roger. Everyone hated watching horror movies with Roger, it was always quite creepy. Not because of the movies Roger chose, but the fact that the boy laughed every time, with no fail, someone died. This normally ended up with one of the twins yelling at him for being so 'cruel' or 'heartless', which results in more laughter.

They were at the part where the demon dragged Kate out bed by her feet when Simon, the twins, and Jack screamed in unison. Roger started laughing like a maniac.

"You know Roger," Jack said, "Sometimes I wonder if you're the demon in this movie. You guys seem to share the same interests."

Roger rolled his eyes.

"Jack, if I was that demon, I would have possessed _you_, and you know it." At this, Roger promptly turned around and threw some popcorn in his mouth. Eric started laughing at Jack's facial expression. It looked as if Roger had just told Jack that he watched him sleep, which everyone had already figured was true. It just seemed like something Roger would do.

"C'mon Jack, I think that was almost a complement!" Sam joked, earning a round of laughter from Simon and Ralph.

"In Roger standards, calling someone ugly is a complement." Eric noted.

Roger ate another handful of popcorn.

"Both of you can shut the fuck up."

"Thanks Roger!" The twins chorused. Everyone continued to watch the movie.

Simon turned away at the part where Kate was possessed, because he said that possessed people are creepy, and so are demons. Ralph laughed when Simon said this and tried to reassure the brunette that he would never get possessed by a demon.

Once the movie was over, the boys had gone through four bags of popcorn and a lot of cans of soda. No one wanted to clean up, but Roger threatened them that, if they didn't, he would made sure that they would wake up in a place far away from where they fell asleep. The twins, Jack, Ralph and Simon knew that Roger could make that happen. Soon Roger's basement was spotless and everyone was back to sitting on the couch. Sam turned to Simon and Ralph, who were once again sitting next to each other, and said,

"How's the romance going, you two?" The older twin wiggled his eyebrows, and Eric hit him in the arm.

"Sam! They don't want to answer that!" Eric scolded.

"And we don't want to hear the answer," Roger rolled his eyes.

"You know, Roger, maybe if you were more caring and nice, you would be dating someone right now." Ralph smiled at the brunette.

"I've never been a fan of… people," Roger muttered.

"We all know that, Roger," said Jack, patting Roger on the arm.

Jack looked at Simon and Ralph. They were holding hands, he could tell, even if they were trying to make it not-obnoxiously-obvious. Jack felt a pang of jealously whenever he looked at them, so he tried to refrain from it. Instead, he tried to concentrate on whatever the twins or Roger did. It was easier said than done. Jack had no idea how he could stand this for much longer.


	3. Chapter 3

Oh my god, guys, I'm so, so, SO sorry that I haven't updated! I hope that you haven't forgotten about this because I sure haven't! :)

Simon, disclaimer?

Simon: *whispering* I-I don't wanna.

Me: Please, hon? It won't take long?

Simon: Well… She doesn't own anything… so… yeah.

Jack: Wow. That was terrifying.

Simon: It was. Shut up.

Me: Okay…. On with the update!

Ralph hummed quietly to himself while he turned the page of his summer reading book. The day had been going quite well for him; he had pancakes for breakfast which- face it- _everybody_ loves, had talked on the phone with Sam for awhile about how they haven't seen each other in a few days, and now he was relaxing and reading. Ralph concluded that this day had been very successful so far.

The sun shone through Ralph's window and onto the floor. It was making little patterns on the hardwood floor that reminded the blonde of cats for some reason. He had just moved his gaze to the next page of his book when the doorbell rang.

And rang.

And _rang._

The ringer of the bell obviously had a very urgent matter at hand, because by the time the Ralph had run downstairs the bell was at a constant ring. It was beginning to give Ralph a headache.

Ralph threw open the door to see none other than Roger standing on his front step, still ringing the doorbell. When he registered that the door had opened, the brunette stopped and, panting, put his hands on Ralph's shoulders.

"It's… Jack." Roger pulled Ralph out of his house before he could even tell his mum that he was leaving.

"What happened!" Ralph's blue eyes widened as Roger half ran half dragged Ralph down the sidewalk.

"It wasn't his fault!" Roger exclaimed, still pulling Ralph down the street. "Could you move any faster?"

Now Ralph was worried. Jack had the tendency to get himself in… dangerous situations. For example, when they were twelve, Jack had taken his skateboard into the street and grabbed onto the backs of cars for a ride instead of going on the sidewalk like Ralph and the twins had done. The resulting injuries-a broken arm, nose, and multiple scrapes and bruises- had been because of a spontaneous right turn and a particularly nasty pothole.

So, as Roger and Ralph ran around the corner and Ralph started hearing angry swears and screaming, the blonde became to fear the worst.

Roger directed Ralph in the direction in which the screams were coming. It was an old unused parking lot. Oh, great. Had Jack attempted parkour again?

As the two came closer, Ralph realized that it couldn't have been parkour, because Jack was lying down next to a large tree, a plastic jump-rope in hand.

"Jack, what the hell!" Ralph exclaimed. He ran over to his friend's side and noticed that his nose was broken. There were cuts all over the ginger's face and he was holding his right elbow.

"It's nothing, really Ralph, I don't understand why you are so worried," Jack tried to reassure.

"It's nothing?" Ralph asked. "Okay. Bend your elbow." Jack bent his left elbow, smirking.

"Your right one, idiot." Ralph rolled his eyes. Jack's smirk disappeared. "Yeah. Thought so," Ralph muttered.

Suddenly, Ralph was both excited and confused to see Simon run from the opposite end of the parking lot. He forgot about Jack for a second and wondered why they had invited Simon and not him. The blonde then realized that his friends probably wouldn't want them to be all couple-y in front of them, which he understood.

Simon was carrying wipes and what looked like gauze. Simon's mom was a little over-protective since her oldest son had a lot of medical problems. That and the fact that Simon had two younger siblings were always active and running around meant that Simon's family always had a lot of band-aids and the like.

When Simon reached Jack, he gently picked up his right arm and asked him to bend it. Jack's green eyes widened. He looked at Ralph, who raised his eyebrows. The choir boy swallowed and slowly began to bend his elbow.

"Shit!" Jack screamed, squeezing his eyes shut. He opened them again and looked up at Simon.

"Do I _need_ to do this? He asked. Simon raised his eyebrows.

"Do you _want_ to go to the hospital?" The little brunette knew the answer already. Jack had a horrendous fear of hospitals. He hated the smell, the look, and most of all, the needles. He hated x-rays and gurneys, talking to doctors and getting his blood pressure taken. Hospitals were, in Jack's mind, Hell on earth. He would do anything to not go to a hospital. The last time that anyone could recall Jack going to the hospital was the skateboard-car incident, and that was only because bone was showing.

"Fine," Jack muttered, slowly bending his elbow. He gritted his teeth and dropped the F-bomb a few times before he finally got it to the appropriate angle. Simon let the pain subside a bit before wrapping Jack's arm in multiple layers of gauze and then an ace bandage. Simon, you see, was kind of like the doctor- both mental and physical- of the group, because he had gone to both kinds of doctors enough times to know roughly what he was doing.

"It's probably just a sprain," Roger said thoughtfully. "So it will heal pretty fast, I think."

The group heard footsteps behind them. It was Maurice with his father.

Ralph sighed with relief. Maurice's father was a pediatrician, so he knew all about broken bones. He also knew all about Jack, so finding the redhead on the ground with a broken nose and possibly a sprained elbow wasn't much of a surprise for the man.

"Took you long enough, Simon got back already!" Roger told Maurice, who rolled his eyes.

"You're lucky my dad took today off, otherwise who knows what kind of stuff Simon would have forgotten about." Maurice countered, smirking.

"Hi Doctor Petterson!" Simon piped up.

"Hello, Simon. How are you doing?" Dr. Petterson asked kindly.

Simon thought for a moment.

"Better than Jack," He said, nodding his head.

"Ah, yes. Mr. Merridew, what trouble have you gotten into yourself this time?" Dr. Petterson asked.

Roger snickered. Ralph hit him on the arm, even though he was laughing quietly, too.

"Let's hear it, Jack," Maurice said, even though he knew perfectly well what happened.

"I, uh, fell out of the tree." Jack muttered, blushing slightly.

"Why did you fall out of a tree, Mr. Merridew?" Dr. Petterson asked, being kind and patient as always.

"I was swinging on that jump-rope," Jack pointed at the pink plastic jump-rope, which was probably his sister's. "And the knot I had used to tie it to the tree came… undone and I… err…. Fell." Jack looked down in slight embarrassment.

"I wrapped up his arm!" Simon said, pointing to the ace wrap.

"Good job, Simon." Dr. Petterson said. "But next time wrap it a little tighter, okay? Like this," Maurice's dad unwound the Ace bandage but kept on the gauze. He covered Jack's arm tightly with the wrap a bit above and below his elbow, as well as the part that was sprained.

"Jack, are you sure that you don't want to go to the hospital?" Dr. Petterson asked. "It would be best to go get an x-ray."

At the mention of the word 'Hospital', Jack's eyes widened.

"No sir, you know how I am about hospitals." Jack shook his head.

"Well," Dr. Petterson said. "Nothing is broken, you must've sprained it. To bone is probably bruised, too, so make sure you ice it from time to time. Stay extra careful, Jack Merridew, and I mean extra careful on _normal_ terms, not yours." Maurice's dad added. "You understand?"

"Yessir." Jack nodded.

"Now let's see about your nose." Dr. Petterson set Jack's nose back in place, something that, no matter how many times Ralph has seen it been done, never fails to disgust him.

"Ice that, too." Maurice's dad advised. Then everybody said goodbye to Dr. Petterson as he began to walk home. Maurice stayed.

As the five of them sat in the parking lot under the tree, a question popped up in Ralph's mind.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Why _were_ you swinging on a jump-rope attached to a tree?"

Jack shrugged.

"It sounded like a good idea at the time."

"That's what you _always_ say, Jack."

"I know."

Poor, stupid, reckless Jack.

Jack: Hey!

Me: You managed to fall out of a tree.

Jack: Aaaannnddd….

Me: (…) Ugh. Whatever. Nevermind.

(Side-note: This story has turned into a more 'misadventures' type thing. I like it. Do you?)

Maurice: *Real sweetly* Please R&R if you liked this chapter!

Simon: Pleaaaaseee?

Me: How can you say no to that?


	4. Chapter 4

Hey… It's me again! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in awhile… I feel terrible. Did you miss me?

Jack: *scoffs* Who would miss you?

Me: LOTS of people!

Jack: Yeah? Like who?

Me: I can't tell you. Then you'll stalk them.

Jack: Not necessarily…

Me: Oh yeah! Update!

Jack: She doesn't own LoTF.

Enjoy! :)

Ralph, Simon, Jack, Maurice, and the twins were sitting in the park. Ralph and Simon were holding hands and Simon's head was on Ralph's shoulder. Jack was leaning against a tree, most certainly _not_ swinging from it, a scowl upon his face. Roger was the cause of that scowl. He sat a few feet away from Jack, throwing stuff-mostly rocks- at his head. He chuckled quietly to himself while doing so. The twins were clapping and cheering him on. The whole scene was very touching.

Then something curious happened.

Roger stopped chuckling and stopped throwing the rocks at Jack. He threw the last one, in fact, with terrible aim and accidentally hit Simon instead. Simon gave out a little cry and Ralph glared at Roger.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Ralph questioned.

Roger didn't answer. He continued to stare off into the distance, towards the entrance of the park.

"…Roger? Did you hear me?" Ralph asked.

No response.

Sam crawled up behind Roger and attempted to trace his gaze. The older twin's mouth began to slowly open when he realized what the brunette was staring at.

"What's he lookin' at, Sam?" Maurice asked curiously. Sam's face was a huge grin when he turned away from Roger, who was still zoning out.

"He's looking at a _girl_." Sam responded, pointing. "That one in the black."

"_What?_" Jack exclaimed. "Roger, I thought you hated people! What's her name?"

Roger sat there, refusing to speak a word.

"Roger!" Simon called. The little brunette furrowed his eyebrows and reached for a nearby stick. He began poking the choir boy with it.

"Rooooger…" Simon chorused. "What's her naaame?"

Roger wrenched the stick out of Simon's grip and snapped it in two.

"What's her name, Roger?" Jack asked.

Roger mumbled something inaudible.

"Pardon?" Maurice smirked.

"I don't know her fucking name," Roger muttered. "I've never seen her before."

"Ooh!" Eric sang. "Love at first sight! Did you hear that, Sam?"

"Sure did!"

"Oh, shut the hell up. I'm not _in love _with her," Roger glared at the twins.

"You just think she's pretty!" Simon grinned, but then his smile became something much more sinister.

"Be right back, Ralph." He picked his head up off of Ralph's shoulder and nonchalantly walked away.

"What is that little demon doing?" Roger asked, peering after the choir boy.

"I think he's going to talk to your lover," Jack laughed. Roger stood up to take action, but he was too late. Simon was looking up at the girl- that's right, up; he was a little shorter than her- with his big, blue eyes. He was talking to her.

"Fuck." Roger gasped. "He got her to come over here."

"Well he_ is_ Simon. He's good at that stuff," Maurice noted.

The group turned to look at Simon and Roger's 'lover', who were coming towards them. The girl was tall, but not too tall, around 5'7. She wore a black t-shirt with some band logo on it that none of them recognized, blue skinny jeans, and converse. A little leather bag hung off of her right shoulder. She had her wavy hair tucked into a messy bun with her bangs down. She was skinny and, everyone later agreed, very beautiful.

"Hi guys, I'm Vanessa," She half-smiled. "Simon said you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah!" Simon cheered. "This is Ralph, the redhead is Jack, those are the twins, Sam and Eric, and that's Roger." Simon added as a quick side note, "Don't worry, sometimes we can't even tell the twins apart."

"We heard that!" Sam and Eric complained.

Roger went back to throwing rocks at Jack again. Simon invited Vanessa to sit down with them and she agreed, saying that she had nothing better to do. She walked over and sat down next to Roger.

Roger's breath hitched noticeably.

"Exhale, Roger," Simon quietly advised, which made everyone snicker. Roger and Vanessa either didn't hear or pretended not to, because they didn't respond.

"Hey." Vanessa said, "Why are you throwing rocks at that kid?"

Roger looked at her and smirked.

"'Cause it's fun." Roger responded. After an awkward pause, he added, "Wanna try?"

Vanessa shook her head.

"I'll stick to throwing rocks at my own friends… but thanks for the offer."

"You throw rocks at your friends, too?"

Vanessa laughed, a sound that made Roger smile.

Roger.

Smiled.

Everyone froze, confused at what they just saw. None of them could recall the last time that Roger had smiled at something that wasn't either Jack getting hurt or scary movies. The fact that he had smiled because of a girl was more surprising. Up until that day, everyone was convinced that they were the only group of people that Roger talked to. His family wasn't included in that group.

"Who doesn't?"

Roger laughed and then stopped suddenly. Another smile crept onto his face.

"You like Avenged Sevenfold?" He was looking at Vanessa's shirt.

"Yeah, they're the best!" Vanessa's eyes lit up at mention of the subject.

"I know, right? Everyone thinks I'm Emo because I listen to them! I mean, what kind of bullshit is that!?"

"That's not why people think you're Emo, Roger." Jack offered. Maurice and the twins nodded their heads slowly in agreement.

"Shuddup, Jack. No one asked you," Roger snapped. He was still looking at Vanessa.

"Do you guys live around here?" Vanessa asked, turning to face everybody.

"I live around the corner," Simon said.

"I live a few blocks down, on 31st," Ralph answered.

"I just moved here," Vanessa confessed. "So I don't really know where all the streets are. I live on Mulberry."

"Same!" Maurice exclaimed.

"That's cool. At least I live close to someone," Vanessa smiled.

"You're welcome to hang out with us anytime," Simon grinned.

"None of us will mind… Especially Roger," Eric said. Roger hit his arm and told him to be quiet. Vanessa didn't seem to mind the whole thing, though. She laughed.

Three little electronic pings interrupted the conversation. Vanessa looked at her phone.

"My mom wants me home to finish unpacking," She groaned. "Here's my number, if you guys want to call. I doubt I'll be doing anything anytime soon," Vanessa reached into her bag and grabbed a pen and a little notebook. She scrawled her number down on it and handed it to Roger, since he was sitting right next to her.

"Bye you guys! It was really nice meeting you," The girl then stood up and walked out of the park, the boy's eyes following her the entire time. Once she was out of eyesight, there was a minute or so of silence until Sam decided to speak.

"Did that really just happen?" He asked, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I dunno," Jack mumbled. The whole thing seemed pretty strange. Vanessa was so nice, and yet, Roger liked her. She was like everyone's personality combined.

"It did happen!" Simon said, being the voice of reason. "Of course it did! Aren't you excited, Roger?"

Roger nodded. He was putting Vanessa's number into his phone.

Jack sighed and leaned back into the tree more, making sure not to hit his right arm on anything. _At least,_ he thought, _the twins and Maurice are still single_. He wished, once again, that everything was back to normal. When things were normal, Jack was calm. Everything was going to plan. There wasn't anything to worry about.

But the poor redhead, leaning against the tree, did have something to worry about. He didn't want to worry about it, he really didn't.

As he looked over at Simon and Ralph- who were still holding hands and smiling- he really wished that he would stop worrying about it sometime soon.

Did you guys like it? I promise I'll update faster next time. *I'm not really good at doing that, am I?*


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey you guys! I feel like such a hypocrite! I promised to update faster and I got much worse. :(**

**Thank you to all that reviewed… I'm so glad that you guys think that this story is cute! **

**Here's another update for y'all. :) **

**Disclaimer: LoTF was published in the early 50's. I'm pretty sure I wasn't alive then… So I don't own anything.**

**Song: Bulletproof Love (By: Pierce the Veil)**

Veronica narrowed her eyes.

"Ten bucks says I can!"

"Yeah. Good luck with that." Jack snorted. There's no way he was going to lose this.

"Prepare to cry." Veronica smirked.

Exactly three hours before this, Jack had no idea that he was going to do later. He thought that he was, for once, going to have a normal day with his friends. His elbow and nose had finally healed, and the bruises on his face had just about faded. He was finally through with all of the torture that came with having his arm in a sling, thank God. But, since Jack Merridew is Jack Merridew and Jack Merridew always found himself in some kind of unusual situations, he should have realized that a normal day isn't quite possible.

Jack was minding his own business, trying to do his summer reading (Ralph had been bragging about he had already started his) when he had heard screaming come from under his bed. Jack jumped and screamed, throwing his book in the air. Why was there someone in his room!? He remembered with a sigh that the screaming was his phone. Roger was calling him. He could tell because Roger had set his ringtone to something about a Bride a few weeks back. He couldn't remember what it was called exactly, but since Jack didn't quite know how to change it back, he'd been having the shit scared out of him for the last two weeks.

"Roger, Jesus fucking Christ. You need to switch your ringtone back."

"You're just a pussy." Jack could hear that Roger was eating something. He heard crunching on the other end of the line.

"Roger?"

"What?"

"…Why'd you call me?"

"Oh. Right. Me and Veronica are hanging out later. You wanna come?"

"Sure! Should we invite The Happy Couple?"

There was a pause.

"Would we be able to stand it?"

The phase 'The happy couple' had gotten a little bit more sarcastic recently. You see, Ralph and Simon had been fighting. Well, Ralph and Simon's version of fighting. They would disagree about something that no one else surely gave a shit about, and they would argue about it over the course of a few days. Then they would make up, and then sooner or later they would find something else. Jack, as much as he hated himself for it, saw a glimmer of hope in this situation. It really wasn't his fault that Ralph was so damn charismatic. And nice. And funny. And…

Snap out of it Jack. He shook his head.

"I think so. They're in the middle of one of their fights again, so no more sappy stuff."

"Great." Jack was glad. Ralph and Simon's fights were both promising and hilarious. "Wait, what's it about this time?"

"Not sure, Simon said I 'wouldn't understand'," Roger said in an uncanny imitation of Simon's annoyingly angelic voice. Jack cackled.

"Invite them! I wanna know what it's about."

"Be at my place at five."

"Mmmkay."

Jack hung up and put his phone on vibrate only. He didn't feel like getting scared twice in one day.

When Jack arrived at Roger's house later, Veronica was already there, sitting on the sofa in his basement. Roger was sitting on the floor. They were blasting screamo music and looking at something online.

"Hey guys!" Jack attempted to yell above the music. Veronica, thankfully, heard him, and she turned around.

"Hey Jack!"

Jack smiled and jumped over the arm of the couch, landing on a cushion.

"What're you watching?" He asked.

"TV." Roger answered. He paused the show that he was previously watching and picked up his phone.

"They're coming soon." He said. Jack could've sworn that Roger sounded terrified, but he might've been mistaken.

"C'mon , Roj, they're not that bad," Veronica said.

"Roj?" Jack laughed. "Roger, you hate nicknames."

Roger coughed awkwardly. "Jack, what are you talking about?"

Jack narrowed his eyes. "You hate it when we call you anything but Roger."

"I don't really mind, Jack." Roger raised his eyebrows.

"Oh."

Veronica's face crumpled.

"Oh, you do hate it, don't you!?"

"It's terrible," Roger muttered.

"You told me you liked it!"

Roger laughed. It was short and sarcastic, like Roger himself. Afterwards there was a long period of awkward silence. Jack wished more than anything that Ralph and Simon would walk in.

And, as if they were waiting on cue (Which Jack wouldn't put past Simon for a second) the happy couple entered stage right.

"Ralph, we've been over this already. If I'm asleep, don't wake me up!"

"I didn't know that you would've hurt me!"

"You know that I'm violent if provoked!"

Roger snickered. Jack shuddered. The little noirette had had this fight with Jack a few years ago. Jack really wasn't at fault for the incident, if anyone thought enough about it. He kind of had to wake him up. After all, their choir concert was going to start in half an hour and Simon wasn't even dressed yet. Simon's mother had asked Jack if he could 'Be a dear and wake up Simon'. Jack was nice about it, too. He was just shaken his shoulder and said 'Simon, you have to wake up now!' He tried again a few seconds later, and Simon had woken up screaming, and he had hit Jack in the face. Later on, the shorter boy would've claimed that it was an accident, but Jack knew that he did it on purpose, no matter how much Simon denied it.

It seemed like Ralph had accidentally fallen into the same trap. He sat down next to Jack on the couch, holding his jaw and slowly opening and closing it to make sure that it was alright.

"What'd you do?"

"I tried to wake him up."

"You didn't remember the broken nose of '08, did you Ralph?"

"No, I didn't." Ralph laughed lightly. "I guess I should have."

That afternoon consisted of everyone finding weird videos on YouTube for everyone to see, watching the newest season of How I Met You Mother on Netflix, and Roger and Veronica trying to convince everyone that screamo music was good. Apparently it took a lot of talent to be able to cream well. Jack, Ralph, and Simon all agreed to disagree at the end of the whole thing, especially after Veronica asked them to try singing the songs themselves. Simon absolutely refused, but Jack and Ralph agreed to try.

"I bet I can do it better than you." Jack challenged. Veronica smiled.

Veronica narrowed her eyes.

"Ten bucks says I can!"

"Yeah. Good luck with that." Jack snorted. There's no way he was going to lose this.

"Prepare to cry." Veronica smirked.

And that's how Veronica, Jack, and Ralph all got into a screaming competition. By the time it was over, Veronica didn't lie, the three of them had raw throats and tears in their eyes. Jack tried to speak but couldn't. Ralph didn't even want to try. They sat down on the sofa with regret and horror in their eyes.

"That was terrible." Veronica squeaked. Jack and Ralph nodded.

"Veronica totally won." Simon muttered. Jack, unable to protest because his voice was still gone, reached into his pocket and forked over ten dollars.

"That whole competition reminded me," Jack said a few minutes later. He sounded like he had sand in his throat. "Roger, you need to fix my ringtone."

"Fine, fine. Hand it here." Roger held out his hand and Jack dropped the phone in it. Roger and Veronika picked out a ringtone (although it took an awfully long time, which gave Jack cause to worry).

"No screamo?" Jack asked.

"None." Veronica said. "Scout's honor."

"You're not a girl scout, are you?" Jack asked, skeptical.

"Of course not."

Ralph and Simon figured that two fights in a week was enough and somehow managed to make up somewhere between when Roger showed them Black Veil Brides and when Veronica started to play Pierce the Veil. Everyone was incredibly relieved, since they all didn't think that they could handle it if they were mad for too long. After all, they had jumped from one argument (which they still wouldn't explain to anyone) to another without even apologizing. It was truly exhausting.

"If there's one thing we can definitely agree on," Simon said, eating some popcorn. "It's that you two are adorable together." He giggled and everyone nodded. Veronica beamed at them.

"Really?" She asked. No one had really commented that Roger had somehow found the one person that he could be around without being miserable. It seemed like a miracle. Ever since they had met, Roger had been- not nicer, his sarcasm was engraved into his DNA- but happier, something that would have taken the powers of God, Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy combined. And even then it was a little sketchy. Veronica somehow made it happen by herself. On those premises alone, Jack, Ralph, Samneric, and Simon were all pretty sure she was magic.

"Of course!" Simon smiled. His teeth gleamed. Everyone nodded again in agreement. Veronica looked like she was about ready to explode from pure joy. Jack found himself smiling at her facial expression.

There was a soft _thud _that came from outside.

"Did you guys hear that?" Simon asked.

"No..." Everyone else shook their heads. Big mistake. Whenever Simon said that he heard something, the little creep had heard something. It was some kind of power the kid had.

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_ Sure enough, someone was knocking on the door to Roger's basement.

"Is it the twins?" Ralph asked.

"No, I didn't invite them…" Roger thought for a moment. His eyes widened in confusion and- quite possibly- fear.  
"Hello?" He asked.

"Roger!" It was Roger's mother.

"Yes mum?" Roger asked, trying to make his voice sweet. The attempt crashed and burned. It sounded like Roger was twelve years old again and was experiencing voice cracks.

"Do you have people over? You know that you're grounded!"

Roger pointed to the door to his garage. Everyone, jaws dropped, made their way over.

"Roger!?" Jack hissed. "Why didn't you tell us you were grounded?"

Roger waved him off, opening the back door.

"Of course not, mum. I'm just watching some TV."

"Do I need to come down there?" She asked.

Jack, Ralph, Simon, and Veronica didn't hear anything after that, because Roger had already shoved them out the back door and had locked it.

Later that night, Jack found himself once gain trying to finish his goddamned summer reading homework. He had just gotten to the part in 'Wuthering Heights' where Catherine falls ill when he started hearing the beginning to a song come out of his pocket.

_I breathe you in with smoke in the backyard lights,  
We used to laugh until we choked into the wasted nights.  
It was the best time of my life, but now I sleep alone,  
_

Jack glared at his phone.

"Fuck you Roger, fuck you." He answered it.

"Hello?" A scratchy voice came from the other end. It was Ralph.

"Hey!" Jack answered. His voice didn't sound too bad, did it?

"Jack, is something wrong? You've seemed, I dunno, a little _off_ lately."

Jack grimaced. He wished that he could tell Ralph exactly how he felt. _Yes, I'm terrible. I feel so guilty. I think I love you. When I see you and Simon fighting, it gives me hope, and that makes me feel even worse._

"I'm just a little worried about you and Simon, is all."

"Jack, that can't be it."

"Jack?"

"Jack, is this about me?"

"Ummm..." Jack wanted to hang up. He wished he had never picked up the phone to begin with.

"Oh no, Jack. Is it really?"

"Yeah, yeah it is, and I'm sorry. Can you just not talk to Simon about it? I think he feels bad enough as is."

"Of course!" Ralph said. Of course. Back to his normal, loyal, positive mood.

"Thanks." Jack hung up.

**Did you like it? Despite all of my screamo references, I really am not a fan. I do like 'Bulletproof Love' a whole lot though… (And 'Set the World on Fire' by BVB. But really, who can resist Andy Six's sexy voice?)**

**Comment, Review? :)**


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